Ever So Gracious

The girl I nanny is sitting here whining and moaning about how miserable her life is. How she is treated like a slave and how she never gets to do anything she wants. Why? Because I took her book away from her until she finished her homework.

It has now been 20 minutes of hearing her whine about how "her eyes are going to pop out because she could cry so much because everything is unfair and she hates her life."Ahhhh. Moan. Whhhaaahhh. Wine. As I sit here, each moan she expresses makes my skin crawl in rage. Oh if I could just get up and give her a taste of what I am thinking right now...give her a piece of my mind! I want to scream at her to just STOP IT! I can't handle listening to it anymore. She thinks she's treated like a slave. Yeah right. If she only knew, only had little glimpse of the hell on earth girls enslaved to human trafficking endured. That would quiet her. She doesn't even know how good she has it. "Just do your homework and get over it! Listen to me when I tell you to do something! STOP WHINING and MOANING!" I want to yell.

And then my thoughts quiet for a moment and I hear that still small voice echoing in my ear. "Oh sweet daughter of mine...(I think to myself, oh no. I know where this is going. Please stop. I'll stop being mad!)...Oh precious girl, don't you see? So often, especially lately, that is exactly what you sound like. Defeated. Whining. Avoiding the things I've asked you to do with the things that gratify the desires of your flesh. Moaning about how life is unfair. I want to scream, STOP IT! I want to tell you to just SHUT UP and get over it! Get over this little task you think is so miserable. To give you some perspective...a slideshow perhaps, of young girls like you living in a third world country, fighting for an eduction rather then complaining about the work load that comes with getting one. Fighting to eat a meal everyday, as you complain about them putting pickles on your Chickfila sandwich when you asked for it plain. Fighting to get her friend through the night as she is nearing death as a result of a very treatable disease as you complain about not having enough friends around you. That is what I see. In the big picture, the grand scheme of things. I see it all. I see you whining and moaning about your life as I watch her fighting for hers. Yes, precious daughter, sometimes I want to stand up and give you a piece of my mind too.

But I don't. Because I love you. And soon enough, you'll figure it out. You always do. But oh, how I wish I could spare you the hurt and heartache. If only you would listen to me the first time. How I wish I did not have to watch as you moan and whine and whimper your way to the other side. If only you would trust me, really believe that what I promised you in the light does NOT change in the darkness. That my love for you, my plans for you, my thougths for you, my will for you...that ME, just me alone is enough. That I am all sufficient for you. Nothing else will satisy the way I do. Nothing compares to knowing me. Don't you see, my precious child? Your life is not your own anymore. YOU ARE MINE.

Oh praise you, my sweet Father. Thank you. You are ever so gentle and kind and patient with me. I am so undeserving of your precious love and mastery over me. So undeserving. And yet, you allow me to bear your name, to call myself your child. Lord, I desire to remain a slave to you and nothing else. I can only be faithful to one master...you are my Master, I will not go free!

"But He knows the way that I take; when He has tested me I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed His steps; I have kept to His ways without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth more then my daily bread." Job 23:10-12